Sri Lanka invited to host next South Asian Games
Sri Lanka has been invited to host the next edition of South Asian Games as Nepal who was set to host the 2018 are facing some difficulties hosting it.
“Yes there was an invitation like that. I asked Maxwell de Silva (NOC Secretary) to come with it (official proposal) and we have to put up a cabinet paper and see whether we can do it,” said Sports Minister Dayasiri Jayasekara .
According to de Silva they had gathered for a South Asian Olympic Committee Meeting on June 6th where Countries like India and Pakistan had put forward their concern about the eligibility of Nepal to host the games and had asked whether Sri Lanka could do it.
“I conveyed the message to the Minister just after the meeting seeking whether we can host it “said De Silva when asked about it.
De Silva further said they are going to do a major revamp in the South Asian Olympic Committee (SAOC) constitution to ensure that committee members are elected not appointed, which is the case now.
“We want to ensure that South Asian Games takes place once in every two years as in recent times after 2010 India took six years to host it and that’s not good for our athletes “ said De Silva .
He further said if Sri Lanka were to host it, it won’t be in 2018 but 2019 as both Commonwealth Games and Asian Games are to be held in 2018
The South Asian Games started in 1984 in Kathmandu and was held once in two years until 1995 and then changed to once in four years till 2010. But following that the 2014 edition was actually held in 2016 in Assam, India and the next was to be hosted in Kathmandu in 2018. Sri Lanka had hosted it in 1991 and 2006 both at Sugathadasa Stadium.
Nevertheless, at the moment Sri Lanka is not in a position to host any international championships which has track and field events as Sri Lanka’s only international standard athletics stadium, the Sugathadasa Stadium is under renovation as the old track has been completely removed at the stadium. The only other track in the country, Diyagama Stadium too is in a worn-out condition and not in a state to host any international championship.
According to veteran sports administrators, hosting multi sports events like South Asian Games does not give Sri Lanka advantage financially or otherwise, as it costs millions to host such an event which has relatively less competitiveness specially with India always withholding their top athletes from SAG even when they are hosting it. But on the other hand hosting such an event gives a good platform for local athletes to perform to boost sports as a whole in the country.
The last time Sri Lanka hosted an international Athletics Championship was in 2013 when they hosted the Asian Grand Prix –third leg which was a one day event. The last multi sports games SL hosted was in 2006 which was the South Asian Games.
Before that Sri Lanka had tried to host two multi sports events the 2018 Commonwealth Games and 2017 Asian Youth Games without success. Sri Lanka lost the bid to host 2018 Commonwealth Games. Sri Lanka failed to show progress in regard to hosting Asian Youth Games too where Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) took away the games from SL.
